Blogs By Fanstag:www.blogsbyfans.com,2011://52011-04-08T18:25:40ZMovable Type 4.23-enKeeping You Informed: Cards/Blues On Saturdaytag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202822011-04-08T18:21:29Z2011-04-08T18:25:40ZCardinal70

That said, some of this readership might be. So I have two things for you. One, bookmark You're My Boys, Blues for your reading enjoyment. Ann was along as a guest of Christine (Aaron Miles' Fastball, blogging on the same network) during the UCB weekend and was a hoot the whole time. So I've gotten to where I read her blog, figuring maybe I'll pick up something about the sport.

The second is the most recent FSMW press release, telling you where you can find the Blues and Cardinals tomorrow, as the games will overlap. Just part of the service.

Cardinals and Blues TV information for Saturday, April 9

On Saturday, April 9, FOX Sports Midwest will televise the Cardinals game at San Francisco and the Blues game vs. Nashville.

In the St. Louis area, the Cardinals game will air on FOX Sports Midwest's secondary channel due to the overlap. It will also be joined on FOX Sports Midwest's primary channel at approximately 10 p.m. following Blues coverage.

Here's where fans will find each game:

Cardinals at San Francisco (Cardinals Live pregame show at 8 p.m.; Cardinals-Giants at 9 p.m.)

§Outside St. Louis: The Cardinals game will air on FOX Sports Midwest's primary channel on cable TV outside of the St. Louis area.

§In the St. Louis area and on DirecTV, Dish and AT&T U-verse: The Cardinals game will air on FOX Sports Midwest's secondary channel on cable TV in St. Louis and on DirecTV, Dish and AT&T U-verse. The Cardinals game will be joined on the FOX Sports Midwest primary channel following Blues coverage. FOX Sports Midwest secondary channels are:

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UCB Weekend Part 2: Bloggers In The Ballparktag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202772011-04-08T16:00:00Z2011-04-08T15:58:10ZCardinal70

He went to church with his family that morning, so I got around and headed down to the park early, expecting to do my souvenir shopping at the team store while I waited around to get into the blogger event. After parking, I eventually found my way to the stadium (I initially took a wrong turn out of the parking garage--I'm not exactly the swiftest when it comes to navigating).

One of the things that I always find neat when going around a stadium is the signage and banners that will be in the city blocks around the ballpark. FSMW has numerous different banners up, highlighting players such as Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter, Matt Holliday and, as seen above, Albert Pujols. I think these are very cool and really start getting you in the spirit even when you are blocks away. (Mental note: I need to find out what they do with these banners after the season is over. I'm pretty sure I could find a place for a couple of them!)

Before I knew it, though, the stadium was in sight:

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Terry Rodgers told us when we interviewed him on the UCB Radio Hour that the team had put up new shades around the ballpark, highlighting the retired numbers and important moments in the club's history. I saw them not only around the upper part of the stadium, but also around the ticket windows. Very nice looking shades that added to the look of the stadium while acknowledging the club's history. I thought it was a subtle but welcome touch.

Finally, I decide to venture into the team store to start looking for caps and shirts for the folks back home. Turns out (completely logically) that they shut the doors and then reopen two hours before game time from the inside of the stadium, to keep people from sneaking in without a ticket. So as soon as I got in there, I wound up turning around and heading back outdoors.

That was fine, though, because very soon after that the bloggers started arriving. Christine from Aaron Miles' Fastball and Kevin from Cards 'N Stuff were among the early arrivals, as well as Angela and her grandfather. Let me put down for the record that Grandpa was very cool. Not only did he never shake his head and wonder about kids these days or tell us to get off of his lawn, but he never seemed to question what blogging was or anything of the sort. (Also, he introduced himself as "Dewayne: Dewayne the tub, I'm drowning." Gotta appreciate some corny humor like that!)

Who really turned heads, though, was Angela's fellow blogger Erika. Not by herself, beautiful as she was. No, what got everyone's attention was the fact that she showed up with Matt Holliday.

OK, not really, it was her husband. However, being that he had the shaved head and general bearing of the Cardinal right fielder, plus was wearing a Holliday jersey, it made all of us do a double take. If Holliday hadn't been in the hospital, I'd have expected a line of autograph-seekers around him at all times. He's in the picture above chatting with Angela's grandfather, but this one just doesn't do him justice.

Of course, as we stood there, team photographers came by wanting to take our picture. We let them take a couple and you can see them over here. Pictures 14 and 15 are of the group, while 16-18 are of myself and Steve from Gas House Graphs.

Finally it was time to go in. Most everyone headed in while I waited for Andy to arrive. Sadly, that meant I saw a couple of Cub fans, coming in with what must have been Cardinal friends of theirs, pose in front of the smaller Stan Musial statue with their Cub regalia and holding a Cubs flag in front of Stan the Man. Their Cardinal friends told them that wasn't cool and was disrespectful, but that seemed to have to impact upon them. Cub fans, what can you expect?

Once Andy arrived we headed into the stadium through the administrative office entrance. Following Dustin from Welcome To Baseball Heaven and his girlfriend, we got into the elevator and went up a floor to the conference center.

When we walked in, we were greeted by Molly and Kathy, who had done a lot of the work in setting up the event. They gave us a packet with various info, such as ticket pricing packages, the password for the wifi so we could hook up our computers and phones and do our social media magic during the game, and most importantly the tickets for the suite.

We also got the above T-shirts, which my wife found extremely entertaining and immediately claimed for herself. Finally, the topper (in my mind) was a 2011 Cardinals media guide. I'm a complete dork, I realize, but I've always wanted to get a media guide. I've found them interesting and intriguing, but not enough to part with the hefty amount of money they command. Already I knew that today was going to be a great day.

Walking into that room was a treat in and of itself. A very classy and tastefully done room, there were chairs set out in the main room for all of us to sit, though most everyone was milling around at the time. We got something to drink and then made the rounds, renewing acquaintances with some of the bloggers I met at last year's Social Media Event and putting faces with names of some that I hadn't met in person yet.

Up to this point, I still didn't know what the program was going to be. We had heard some different rumors and ideas that the club had had, but we didn't know what they had settled on. At noon, Derek Throneburg (Director of Ticket Development) and Melody Yount (Manager, Media Relations and New Media) kicked things off by welcoming us to the ballpark and then introduced a special guest.

Probably hard to tell there, being that I was not in the best spot to get a shot of him, but that's Cardinals General Manager John Mozeliak. Mo came in and chatted for what seemed to be at least half an hour, talking about the team and taking questions from the crowd. Some of the highlights:

--Mo poked gentle fun at Ryan Theriot's start, saying that he "wasn't hitting my daughter's weight". (Theriot has probably passed that now, since Mo's daughter is right at 11 1/2.)

--He also said Adam Wainwright would be on the team next year. Whether they negotiate a new contract with him or pick up the options, that remains to be seen and, of course, he didn't give any indication of which way it would go.

--One of the things I found most interesting was the excitement the organization seems to have about Carlos Martinez. Mozeliak said that he likely had the talent to start in high A ball or even AA Springfield, but they were starting him out in the Gulf Coast League to help him get acclimated to American culture. Sounds like when he adjusts, he could move up the organization quickly.

I even got a chance to ask a question, asking about the Chris Carpenter status and whether the idea of extending him had come up. Coming fairly quickly on the heels of the Wainwright question, Mo used that opportunity to reiterate that 1) they aren't going to talk about contracts and 2) lots of different scenarios have been gamed out. While neither of those were a surprise, I'd have liked to heard a little more about the thinking going on, even if it wasn't specific. Of course, perhaps if I'd asked my question better, that would have been a more likely result.

After Mo headed off to actually do his job, Derek gave us the pitch about dynamic pricing, something different that they are using this year after seeing how it worked for San Francisco last year. I've got to admit, when I first heard about dynamic pricing in the offseason, it seemed like a cynical ploy to capitalize on intriguing matchups, big teams coming to town, things like that. While there is that part of dynamic pricing, there's a little more to it than that.

What kinda gets left out in the preceding is that prices can also go down if a weaker team is coming to town or reality hasn't matched their models. Derek provided the example of last September, when the Cards/Cub matchup had been priced at the beginning of the year with the expectation that both teams would be in the race, adding to their natural rivalry. When neither of them were contending, there wasn't a mechanism in place to adjust the ticket prices on a wholesale basis, though of course they could run various promotions and giveaways if they wanted.

Derek also admitted that they were really trying to juggle trying to get people into the ballpark at good prices with the feelings of those season ticket holders, who might get a bit twerked if the guy in the seat next to them paid 50% of what they did. On the whole, season ticket holders still pay less that way than if you bought all the games individually, but it's a tough balancing act for the marketing and ticket side of the organization.

They also announced that the next social media event, which sounds like it will be something very similar to the Social Media Night they held last September, will be held on Tuesday, May 17th when the Phillies are in town. More information will be coming in the days ahead, but I expect it will be where you buy a discounted ticket and there is a program ahead of time. If you didn't make last year's SMN, see if that date works for you. It's a great thing to be a part of and you'll meet some wonderful people. I don't expect that I'll be able to go to that one after having just been there, but Andy is clamoring to go as my representative!

The Cardinal staff then talked about the renovations to the Redbird Club, an inclusive area where people could eat and watch the games. Figuring that pictures were better than words, they then showed us, leading us through the Redbird Club on our way to the suites we'd watch the game in. The walls were decorated with pictures of baseball cards and other memorabilia, as you can see above.

As we were walking through, Andy turned to me and said, "The food looks nice, but I'm not seeing anything much different." About that time we passed guys in chef hats chopping and sauteeing. I commented, "That's different." He agreed.

Then we arrived at the suite. We were actually in three different suites, though the Ozzie Smith (as pictured above) and the Bob Gibson were connected to each other and the connecting doors were left open so we could go back and forth. A few bloggers wound up in the Jack Buck suite, which was the next one over but not connected up with us. You could go back and forth, though, so they weren't completely separated from us. I spent some time over there talking about the future of the Cardinals with Eugene from 85% Sports, Chris from Bird Brained and Joe from The McBrayer-Baseball Blog, among others. A little quieter in the Buck suite, but still a great experience.

Inside the suite, people pretty quickly got down to sampling the great food that was on hand and getting outside to the seats provided to keep an eye on the game. However, for a lot of us, the game became secondary as we talked with and got to know each other.

Bloggers weren't the only ones that made an appearance in the suite, though. I had let Geoff know where we were when we got the tickets, and so he showed up in the suite with Jim Hayes in tow, which provided one of my personal highlights of the day.

I am a big fan of the Cat, as I mentioned last year when I got to meet him. (Jim flattered me by at least pretending to remember who I was this time around!) So while having him in the suite, talking about the Cardinal credentialing standards and his son's birthday party at the zoo, was great, there was more to it than that.

See, Christine is not a huge fan of Jim Hayes, finding the third-inning banter and his pre-game segments not to her liking. We've gone back and forth about it on Twitter a few times, so I'm pretty sure I had a big smile on my face when she was standing there and Geoff introduced her to Jim. She was great about it, though, and admitted afterwards he was personable in the one-on-one setting. (Note: If you see an upswing in Jim Hayes mentions in the blog, remember back to this story and you'll know why.)

Hayes wasn't the only guest that came through. Midway through the game, a bunch of big red feathers came hustling through the suite.

Fredbird was, of course, a huge hit. Most everyone did their best to get their picture taken with the mascot, and he was having a lot of fun running around, jumping over railings, and just goofing off in general. I was on the phone to my wife right then and made sure to have her tell the kids Fredbird was there. My daughter especially was disappointed not to be there to see him! I wasn't able to maneuver around to get my picture with him, but I've seen lots of great ones on the various blogs and on Facebook.

Some of the Cardinal staff was there as well. Melody came up to see how things were going and I got to spend some time talking baseball with Terry Rodgers as well, which was great. Terry's from the Pittsburgh area, so he's seen both sides of baseball as it were. There's no doubt he appreciates where he is now!

Also joining us for a while was Ron Watermon, the Director of Media Relations for the Cardinals. Ron stood and talked to a small group of us for a while, talking about how the Cardinals are branching out into social media. They said a lot of teams, including themselves, like to be playing in those waters because right now it isn't standardized by MLB like the web sites and other things are. MLB still has some rules and has reined them in from time to time, but it does give them a little freedom to do things.

It was a great conversation with Ron and he really seemed to understand and appreciate what we as bloggers do and how we can help out the team as well. Before he left, I jokingly suggested that we needed to set up an John Mozeliak interview for the UCB Radio Hour. He took me seriously and said we'd set one up, so hopefully later in the season or perhaps during the offseason, we'll get the general manager on for a few questions. That's my goal, at least!

The Cardinals provided wifi, as I mentioned, with the intent that we do a little work while we were up there. Some of us Tweeted during the game, some of us blogged. You've seen the live blog that was on this site on Sunday as well as a number of others throughout the UCB. Here, you can see a little magic at work as Angela is composing her Cardinal Diamond Diaries post about the outing.

Here, Travis gets a Fredbird Follys post worked up. Travis had let the blog lapse, but this invitation seems to have inspired him to get back into the grind. So if you aren't reading him, get back into the habit!

All in all, the whole atmosphere was spectacular. Bloggers were socializing, laughing, just having a great time at the one place all of us wanted to be at. People that had never met each other were acting like old friends. The fact that Jaime Garcia was pitching such a great game helped, of course, though his quick work meant that we weren't going to be at the game as long as we thought.

I also found out that procrastination pays at times. I have been continually meaning to support the Pitchers Hit Eighth guys by buying one of their snazzy shirts, but just never had the money at the times I was thinking about it and vice versa. Nick, Dennis and Josh presented me with one last weekend, though, and I was honored to accept it. Plus, if I wear it, people may think I write for that blog and be more impressed!

All in all, it was a great day. Good baseball, good friends, a Cardinal victory, talking with Cardinal employees and seeing Fredbird beak a couple of people. What else could you ask for? The only way the Cardinals can top this next year is by letting us throw out the first pitch, I think!

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Off Day Breathertag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202802011-04-08T13:30:52Z2011-04-08T13:17:46ZCardinal70
No wins or losses for the Cardinals yesterday, just the flight from the heart of the country to the West Coast. No word on whether Matt Holliday will be playing while he's out there, but I expect that he'll at least try to get into the cage some soon, perhaps even today. It's a 10-game road trip that may test the Cardinals somewhat, especially if Holliday isn't available until close to the end of it. The road wasn't all that good to them last year, but perhaps that will be different in 2011.

There was a rumor last year at the Social Media Night that 60 Minutes was going to be doing a feature on Albert Pujols. This Sunday, that comes to fruition as the CBS news magazine airs a story on the first baseman, complete with an interview and following him to the Dominican to see his off-field efforts. You can see a short clip over here and it will follow the final round of the Masters, so be sure to keep your eyes open or set your DVR.

Allen Craig has been picking up the slack with Matt Holliday out. Interesting how he did so much work with Mark McGwire in the offseason. We saw good results out of other players McGwire worked with outside of the structure of an official hitting coach, such as Skip Schumaker, but those results didn't necessarily translate to when McGwire was with them on a daily basis.

So far, Craig has avoided that problem (if there is one) and looks to make the bench a much stronger place, either because he's in it or he's taking the place of one of the starters. For a while there it seemed Allen Craig was person non grata in the organization (a role that seems now reserved for Bryan Anderson) but he's taken his opportunity and seized upon it, so much so that he will likely be a key piece in the post-2011 landscape for the Redbirds.

Today, in the Giants' home opener, Jake Westbrook takes the mound against Jonathan Sanchez. Here's what Westbrook has done against those guys in the orange and black:

Being that Westbrook has spent most of his time in the American League, it's not a surprise that those that have faced him the most are AL retreads. Many of the young stars haven't seen him that much yet, though if Westbrook's command is like it was on Saturday, it won't matter, they'll hit him anyway. A good start out of Westbrook would go a long way toward relieving some concerns Cardinal fans have about him.

The guy that has faced him the most won't be in the lineup and you have to like Pujols's numbers against Sanchez, even if it is--say it with me, now--a small sample size. Could it be that AP gets things rolling this afternoon? We'll have to wait and see. Game's at 3:35 Central, so remember that when you are making your plans to watch or listen to the game.

I hope to get part two of the UCB weekend story up this afternoon, so check back for that. Part one can be found below this post. Also, the plan is to move this blog to a new server this weekend. Should be late on Saturday and likely won't cause any disruption for anyone reading it, but in case something goes wrong, you'll know why. Enjoy your weekend!

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Opening Day at Shea Field; Away Game For Commuter Parkingtag:www.loge13.com,2011://9.202812011-04-08T13:02:03Z2011-04-08T13:08:50Z Today is the home opener for our Mets. Time for new beginnings, fresh starts. Or at least a restart. After the Mets got off to a 3-1 start, they are now a .500 team, not too shabby considering they...Kingmanhttp://www.depressedfan.com/tom

Today is the home opener for our Mets. Time for new beginnings, fresh starts.

The Loge13 crew will be out there for opening day. Drop a comment if you are going to be out there too.

Meanwhile, our own Ron Hunt reports that the commuter lot is closed. All of you driving out to the stadium then commuting to work will need to find parking elsewhere, like Corona. Way to start the season, Citi Field.

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Bulls 97, Celtics 81: Meet Me In Orlandotag:www.tremendousupsidepotential.com,2011://15.202792011-04-08T04:09:56Z2011-04-08T18:22:10ZI can't pinpoint the exact moment -- or at least I haven't thought about it hard enough yet to figure it out - but at some point this season, the Bulls, and all of their raucous success, stopped feeling like...Ricky O'Donnellhttp://www.tremendousupsidepotential.comI can't pinpoint the exact moment -- or at least I haven't thought about it hard enough yet to figure it out - but at some point this season, the Bulls, and all of their raucous success, stopped feeling like a pleasant surprise. Yes, this is my major epiphany just an hour or so after the Bulls handily dismantled the conference's reigning champion and bully: this should feel like *something* -- something triumphant -- but instead it feels like just another win. And because the Bulls win practically every game they play, the major bruising Chicago delivered at the United Center last night has me searching for something more. Something that can't come for almost another month, when the second round of the playoffs begin.

Yep, the Bulls have done the borderline unthinkable in Tom Thibodeau's first season: they have won so easily and so often that they have made the regular season feel unimportant. I would have never guessed it would be this way. This season -- even when viewed through Derrick Rose colored glasses -- was supposed to be about building towards something grand; instead, they've skipped paying their dues and transported straight to the elite. The Bulls are already too good for this too long regular season. They are 58-20 with five games left and I am bored. We get it: they are really good at this regular season shit. Wake me when they sweep the Pacers.

If this reads as spoiled, even bratty, I suppose I'm guilty as charged. Somewhere along the way, however, this team stopped being cute and started getting serious. Silver linings exist only to get the depressed masses from day-to-day without jumping. We passed that bridge a while back. Now, satisfaction will come only out of something concrete: playoff advancement, and -- let's be real -- the eventual toppling of Miami or Boston. That's where we're at. You'll be told that this season is a rousing success regardless: what with Rose turning into the MVP, Thibs landsliding his way to Coach of the Year out of the gates, and the best damn regular season record in the conference. Time passes, expectations adjust. I want LeBron's head on a stick now, and anything less constitutes an opportunity lost.

I'm just anxious, that's all. Excited. Nervous. Everything. This team -- every single ounce of it -- is such a joy. And I know too that seasons like these don't come very often. In my lifetime, I can count the years my favorite teams have been *this* good on a single hand -- yeah, The MJ's excluded, if only because the man himself is bigger than it all. The point: I want a fucking banner. Silver linings? Sure, pulverize the Heat and a small part of me could get talked into everything being OK if they somehow lost in the Finals. Regardless, it's tunnel vision time. Nothing else matters besides for the end-of-season prize.

We're just so far past pre-season expectations right now. I thought the Bulls would have to get a great deal of luck to win 50; instead, they'll win 60+ even without their complete starting front-court for the vast majority of the regular season. They aren't good; they're great. They aren't championship hopefuls, or even merely a contender: the Bulls are the favorites, at least in their conference. Learning-to-fly narratives be damned.

I am ready for the playoffs. I've never been more ready. Friends and long-time readers know that I like to get in the prediction business from time to time -- even if those told-ya-so bragging rights don't mean as much as you get further away from your high school cafeteria. I have no predictions for these Bulls, though. I'm not even going to think about it. All I know is that I love them, and that these playoffs are going to be a wild fucking ride. Now let's get on with it, because when even a 16-point curb stomping of the C's feels hollow, you know it's time for bigger and better things.

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The Gathering: United Cardinal Bloggers Converge On St. Louistag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202762011-04-08T02:01:20Z2011-04-08T02:44:37ZCardinal70
probably read about it on some of the great blogs around the Cardinal blogosphere. Yet, as the informal head of the United Cardinal Bloggers, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you about the weekend from my point of view. Most of this you may have read better in other places, though I doubt that anyone will ramble on as much as I will.

Going into this weekend, I wasn't sure what to expect. Not that it mattered--I was going to be able to meet some of the wonderful people that make up the UCB and see a ballgame for free. Pretty tough to ruin that at all. That said, it turned out even better than I expected.

I left here at roughly noon on Saturday, heading through the Ozarks and across Missouri to the promised land. On the docket for Saturday evening was dinner with bloggers, friends, and Twitter followers at Pujols5. When we were planning this, I expected that I was going to run late, but it actually took me much less time than I thought, so 6:15 that evening found me sitting next to an empty fountain in front of our dinner locale, waiting on people to show.

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Bill, accompanied by Angela and Bob, to be there before me, so I realized that without them, I could see bloggers pass before me and not have the slightest clue who they were. That almost happened, in fact, as the first blogger to get there was Robert. Robert wasn't a member of the UCB, writing a blog called MLB Live Wire, but was a part of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance and had recently moved to St. Louis. After we confirmed who we were, we chatted until Bill and Angela arrived. After going in and finding out our room wasn't quite ready, we wandered back outside, enjoying the lovely evening air and listening to Bill tell some stories.

As it got closer to 7, the time for the dinner, more and more bloggers and other members of our party began to join us, so we went back inside to claim our spot. We still had to wait a while before it was ready, but they finally got us back into the room.

Turned out, this wasn't the end of our adventure. Bill had originally booked a room for 20, but then as the confirmations continued to pile up, we realized we'd need more room and he called back to change our reservation. Apparently, that never got up the chain of command, because we were in a room for 20 and it was quickly obvious that wasn't going to do it.

The wait staff and management were completely helpful and sympathetic, but this was a Saturday night after a home Cardinal game and on the night of the Final Four. There simply wasn't anywhere else to put us, especially after the party in the large room we thought was going to come open decided they were going to stay for the second basketball game. So we moved tables around, brought in another one, and got to know each other pretty well.

Get to know one another we did. While the configuration didn't allow for much mingling, it was pretty easy to have conversations with your table and perhaps the table next to you. Dennis and Nick from Pitchers Hit Eighth were sitting at the table next to me, while Bill and Angela and Twitterer Mary were seated with me. Dennis spent much of the time busting on Nick for not writing as often as he should and Bill kept talking to me about making a speech, which didn't happen.

Dennis also suggested that he thought Albert Pujols was back in the kitchen after a long day at the ballpark, which led to some hilarious commentary. We also tried to figure out some baseball dishes for the place, such as the Jose Oquendo burger, which we thought would go right through you. (Like Pujols goes through the signs at third....keep up. If I have to explain the jokes, we're going to be here a while.)

We talked some baseball, as well. Of course the Cardinals had just lost a very ugly game and the prognosis of Jake Westbrook's season was discussed, as well as the Pujols contract situation, what to expect out of Jaime Garcia, and pretty much anything else that came to mind. It was wonderful just kicking back and talking with guys that I love to read on a daily basis. (Well, not daily in Nick's case......)

Really was a great evening. Geoff Goldman of Fox Sports Midwest, the man in charge of last year's behind the scenes tour, came with his family and got to meet a lot of the different bloggers. He and I talked some about the criticism leveled at FSMW about the Opening Day Ceremonies and he admitted that it wasn't perfect, so I expect that next year's broadcast will be certain to go off without a hitch. Geoff also passed around very nice FSMW hats, which I made sure to snag for me (and, truth wins out, for each of the kids as well when there were extras).

Between the wait on seeing where we were going to eat and the large crowd, the gathering didn't break up until close to 11:00. There wasn't a lot of lingering, because we'd be seeing each other again in about twelve hours as the UCB went big time. Since there's plenty to talk about from the actual day (and a whole lot more pictures from that portion of the weekend), we'll break here and I'll put the rest in another post.

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Keeping You Informed: New Faces On FSMWtag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202752011-04-07T19:23:52Z2011-04-07T19:27:54ZCardinal70

As for this press release, I'm good with Mike Matheny joining the staff, as the little I've seen of him on TV was pretty good. (Apparently he was on Sunday's pre-game show, but I was a little busy then....) Don't have any particular problem with adding John Mabry either, though I don't think I've seen him do TV. As for Jay Randolph, well, at least he won't be doing play by play or filling in regularly.

MIKE MATHENY, JOHN MABRY AND JAY RANDOLPH JOIN

FOX SPORTS MIDWEST'S CARDINALS TV TEAM

Former Cardinals Mike Matheny and John Mabry and broadcasting veteran Jay Randolph have joined FOX Sports Midwest's broadcast team for Cardinals baseball. The three join Dan McLaughlin, Al Hrabosky, Rick Horton, Pat Parris, Jim Hayes and Cal Eldred on FOX Sports Midwest's coverage, which expands to 152 regular season games this year.

MATHENY TO SERVE AS PREGAME AND POSTGAME ANALYST

Matheny, A four-time Gold Glove winner, will be the analyst on some Cardinals Live pregame and postgame shows on FOX Sports Midwest.

Matheny's first appearance was on Sunday's pregame show. He is next scheduled to co-host the pregame and postgame shows on Saturday and Sunday (April 9-10) when the Cardinals take on the San Francisco Giants, another of Matheny's former teams.

"I'm excited to be part of the FOX Sports team and look forward to being part of the broadcasting world and getting more involved in the game," said Matheny.

Matheny played 13 major league seasons (1994-2006) with Milwaukee, Toronto, St. Louis and San Francisco. Considered one of baseball's best defensive catchers, he won three of his four Gold Gloves as a Cardinal.

Mabry, who had three stints with the Cardinals during his 14 major league seasons, will be the analyst on the Cardinals Live pregame show when Eldred and Matheny aren't available.

Mabry played outfield, first base and third base as a Cardinal. He hit .307 in 1995, his first full season. In 1996 he hit .297 with a career-best 74 RBIs as a key part of the Cardinals division championship team.

JAY RANDOLPH TO CONTRIBUTE TO CARDS COVERAGE

FOX Sports Midwest has also added broadcasting veteran Randolph, who will contribute to the network's Cardinals coverage with features on Cardinals personalities, interviews and more. He also provided the voice over for a special pregame segment on opening day.

Randolph has been in broadcasting for more than 50 years. He served in a play-by-play role on Cardinals telecasts for 21 seasons over two stints, including 2007-10 on KSDK-TV.

The postgame press conference ended with TLR snapping at the media and abruptly leaving, moves contrary to his stated policy of more amiable relations with the press. The thrust of La Russa's tirade was that it is early, and surely it is. As we discussed last night on the UCB Radio Hour, six games does not a season make. You only have to look to Boston to see that being the case.

That said, in some ways this seems like Week 27 of the 2010 season. If the Cards had lost games 6-4 or 7-5, maybe the early thing would feel more accurate. Instead, an offense that was supposed to have been boosted and been more consistent is having games like they did last year, where the pitcher of the day felt they needed to pitch a shutout to win, and even that wasn't a guarantee.

It was pointed out on the Fox Sports MW broadcast yesterday that the Cardinals have scored 14 runs in six games....and hit into 10 double plays. Out of the nine National Leaguers that have grounded into more than one double play, the Cardinals have two of them. Obviously, Albert Pujols leads the league with four after his opening day, but Skip Schumaker also has a couple. The Cards lead the majors in double plays grounded into, two more than Minnesota and four more than the closest National League team, Milwaukee.

Wednesday, it was more of the same. Hero of the game Chris Carpenter pitched a very good ballgame, though his pitch count ran up and he wasn't able to go as deep as most fans would have liked. Still, six innings, two runs (one earned) and six strikeouts isn't a bad days work. For the most part, the bullpen held, though Jason Motte allowed an insurance run to the Pirates in the ninth, something that really came back to haunt the Cards when they finally scored in the bottom of the inning. Just like last year's squad, no matter how inept they seemed early in the game, they always seemed to wake up enough late to get the tying or winning run to the plate.

The problem wasn't entirely hitting, either. Almost everyone in the middle of the lineup had a hit. The problem was, they couldn't string those hits together or hit with any authority until late in the game. Even in the ninth, it took a two-out double from Yadier Molina to get the run in, as it looked for a while that the leadoff double by Lance Berkman was going to be wasted. Ryan Theriot went 0-3 in the leadoff slot, though he did draw a walk, and Colby Rasmus went 0-4 in the second slot. Hard to get anything going when those two spots are hitless. I'll give Theriot the Goat since I'm not big on o-fers in the leadoff slot.

(On a side note, it seems that already Berkman is the go-to guy to talk about a game. There doesn't seem to be a game story where he's not quoted and he usually is going into depth about what's going on or at least discussing it with the reporter instead of spouting off cliches. Don't know if that helps team chemistry or not, but it definitely adds to reading about the game.)

So, do we panic yet? Of course not. Cincinnati is off to a perfect start and the Cards are already four games back, but while we're looking at last year, let's remember: the Cardinals had a very strong April last season and led the division by five games early on. Still a lot of baseball to be played, though not today as the Cards wing their way to San Francisco. We'll look at Friday's pitching matchup tomorrow.

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Break Up The Mets!!!tag:www.loge13.com,2011://9.202732011-04-06T16:38:14Z2011-04-06T17:09:06ZFirstly, today is Kingman Senior's birthday. Happy day to ya!And could today also be the high point of the 2011 season? I give you exhibit A: I Lets hope the good times continue for 158 more games. As long as...Kingmanhttp://www.depressedfan.com/tomAnd could today also be the high point of the 2011 season? I give you exhibit A:

I

Lets hope the good times continue for 158 more games. As long as Beltran's legs hold out and Chris Young is in the lineup every day, this could be a fun year!

As exciting as the NL standings are right now, this is even better. Which New York baseball team has the best record?

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McClellan Starts, Cardinals Wintag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202722011-04-06T13:31:47Z2011-04-06T13:59:26ZCardinal70JE Powell may have said it best on Twitter: Three is a half-serious number.

The Cardinals have not scored more than three runs in any of their games so far, a stretch that is historical according to Fox Sports Midwest. Only twice before has that happened for the team, back in the dead ball era. Yet, somehow, the team is still 2-3, a pitch away from being over .500, and not completely hopeless.

The reason for that is starting pitching. Last night's Hero, Kyle McClellan, did a great job in his first-ever regular-season start. Besides his early jitters, including the home run to Lyle Overbay, he really had few problems. Went six innings (which, while not alleviating my concern about how deep he can go, was a good outing) and struck out seven, which ran his pitch count up to just shy of 100. Really, all in all he looked like a starting pitcher last night, and that's the key. Too bad he wasn't able to get the win.

Nice to see some good results out of Albert Pujols last night, with the sacrifice fly and the RBI single to put the Cardinals in front. A lot of talk afterwards, including by the manager, about Albert not being completely right yet, but he's tough enough to grind through some of these things. If he wasn't so dag-blasted good, he'd be able to buy one of those Matt Sebek-designed "Scrappy" shirts. Also good to see Ryan Franklin have a relatively uneventful ninth, if seeing the tying run at the plate can be called uneventful.

On the down side, remember when the Cardinals talked about getting more offense out of the backup catcher role? That was before they settled on Gerald Laird. One of the goals every year is to give Yadier Molina more rest, but if Laird is going to have many 0-4, two strikeout games, it's going to be difficult to justify him in there on a more regular basis than the Molina caddies in the past.

So after all the fuss and worry, it looks like there will be no DL for Matt Holliday. He was cleared for baseball activities yesterday, something that he was hoping for in his interview on Monday with the always entertaining Jim Hayes. While not having him in the lineup has definitely been an issue, not having 25 bodies on the roster hasn't seemed to bite them yet. Holliday could be available for pinch hitting this weekend in San Francisco. He's also apparently a trendsetter--word just over Twitter is that Adam Dunn is having one today.

Before looking at today's starting matchup, wanted to mention that Garlic Fries and Baseball has a post up about the Giants fan that was beaten in the Dodger Stadium parking lot. They also have a link up to the fund for the Giants fan that was beaten, if you are interested in making a contribution.

Nothing makes you feel better about taking the rubber game of a series than having Chris Carpenter on the mound. Here's what he's done vs. the current Pirate squad.

Doumit and Overbay have had some success against him in the past, so he'll probably have to navigate them carefully. It's not necessarily going to be a walk in the park for Carp, especially since there's no telling what kind of support he is going to get.

Holliday's seen him the most, but obviously won't be in there today. Interesting that Colby Rasmus is the only other person to have gone yard off of him, though the middle infielders have had good success at getting on base.

Probably another interesting one this afternoon, so turn on Fox Sports Midwest or Mike and John over at KMOX and enjoy the afternoon baseball! Also, remember UCB Radio Hour tonight, hosted by Dathan from Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Goodnight. Join him on the air or us in the chat room!

As you know, I'm involved with the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. However, I don't always remind you that we have a podcast for the BBA that's similar in style but broader in scope than the UCB Radio Hour. It's good stuff with rotating hosts and you can find it on Blog Talk Radio under the same Ivie League Productions banner that the radio hour is under.

Steve Keane of The Eddie Kranepool Society is one of those hosts and always brings a lot to the table. Tonight, he really steps up and brings some luster to the BBA by having on Jonah Keri, author of the new book The Extra 2%, and Jerry Crasnick, who writes over at ESPN.com. The show is on at 9 Central tonight, so if the Cards are done by then, head over to Blog Talk and check it out. If not, listen to it tomorrow at the site or download it to your favorite mobile device.

Also, the latest question from the guys over at KMOV has gone around to the bloggers and our responses are up. The question is whether Albert Pujols could become a Cub. Almost to a man, the intro is, "Sure, he could be...." Check it out and see how many of your favorite bloggers took to that question.

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Early Season Bluestag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202702011-04-05T13:33:46Z2011-04-05T13:48:54ZCardinal70
You wait all winter for spring training. Once spring training gets here, you start getting anxious for the regular season, looking forward to good baseball and, as Cardinal fans, getting some wins. So far, save for Sunday that wait continues. If this keeps up, the Cards are going to take us seriously when we said they had to host us every night to win.

No luck against Pittsburgh last night in shaking those vestiges of 2010. While there's a lot of talk about how much better Charlie Morton has looked lately, it was still a pitcher the Cardinals have been able to hit before. Again, they had their opportunities to break open a game, though maybe not as many as they had against San Diego. It all boiled down to a 4-3 loss with the smallest-ever crowd in the history of the new place watching.

Not so fun note: The Cardinals have scored 11 runs this season. The Padres scored 11 against them on Saturday. Granted, Matt Holliday is out right now, but that offensive surge we were hoping for seems to be short-circuited at the moment. It's often said that the offense goes as Albert Pujols goes, and right now he's not going. If he could start heating up, things would probably look a little brighter.

Kyle Lohse made some mistakes, but that's to be expected. Save for the one inning, he pitched a very solid game, limiting Pittsburgh's chances. He just got a couple of pitches up and some of the young talent of the Pirates took advantage of it. Overall, he pitched a good game--only walked one, struck out five and looked like what you'd expect out of a middle of the rotation starter.

Hero: Lance Berkman. He had a hit, walked twice, scored a run and drove in a run. Granted, he did have a bit of a misplay in the outfield, but it didn't seem to cost the Cardinals much. (Also, you have to be careful when you watch the game with the Twitterati. I made one comment about Berkman and before you know it I'm a founding member of the Lance Berkman Fan Club. I just hope I don't have to bring the food to the next meeting.)

Skip Schumaker was in the running with his two hits and Allen Craig drove in a run and got a hit, just not at the same time.

Goat: David Freese, 0-4 with two strikeouts. Erika isn't going to like that, but it was a very rough night for the third baseman. Even that line, as bad as it is, doesn't completely tell the whole story because while he knocked in the first run, it was on a double play grounder with first and third and nobody out. A hit there could have snowballed into a big inning. Also deserving mention: Yadier Molina with his 0-4, one strikeout performance.

In better news, Jaime Garcia won the co-player of the week award. Sadly, he had to share it with a Cub but it was still a nice honor, even if it was for an abbreviated week. Hopefully he'll get to have his own on a full one very soon!

Matt Holliday doesn't want to go on the DL, and so far looks like he may not. At the gathering on Sunday, John Mozeliak said he thought the decision on Holliday would be made in the next 48 hours. That clock is just about run out, so it would seem to me that, barring any sort of setback, the team will limp along a day or so and then get him into the lineup out in San Francisco. That's the difference about his job and my job. If I had an appendectomy, I'm milking it for as much time off as possible, especially this time of year with some afternoon baseball.

Let's look at this evening's matchup. First off, Kyle McClellan, making his first start in the big leagues, against the Pirates.

Not just a ton of success for Pittsburgh against McClellan, but it's such a different thing tonight with him starting that it's hard to draw any conclusions. It could be he'll continue this level of pitching, it could be they'll start figuring him out the second and third time around. McClellan was much better in the spring about going deeper into games and not getting beat around than I thought, so hopefully he can carry that into the regular season.

There's not a huge sample size for anyone here, as I believe they have only faced him once, late in the year last year when any bad team or mediocre pitcher could beat them. McDonald is being touted as better-than-average, though, so we'll see if they are able to do anything with him even though they've not seen him much before.

Before leaving, I wanted to mention the Sign Pujols organization. What they are doing is selling signs for you to show your support for the return of Mr. Pujols and donating the profits to the Pujols Family Foundation. That last little twist sets it apart from a lot of fan campaigns and makes getting a sign worth it, I think. So check that out and see what you think.

Let's see if the 2011 Cardinals can show up tonight. I'd like to meet them instead of hanging out with the 2010 version.

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Rodman and Tex Winter to the Halltag:www.tremendousupsidepotential.com,2011://15.202692011-04-05T04:21:01Z2011-04-05T06:58:09Z Monday was a slow sports day: no Bulls, no Sox, and everything else drowned in the sewage of that embarrassing college hoops showcase. The only blip on the TUP radar was from an era that appears often enough here,...Ricky O'Donnellhttp://www.tremendousupsidepotential.com

Monday was a slow sports day: no Bulls, no Sox, and everything else drowned in the sewage of that embarrassing college hoops showcase. The only blip on the TUP radar was from an era that appears often enough here, and in many forms, even if it expired 13 years ago. 90's Bulls, son -- Always and Forever. Unfortunately, no, this isn't about those funny-looking threads MJ wears like an keepsake for the generation he ruled, or even a sorta-relevant "Bang Gang" update we'd be willing to stretch for. This time it's the about the guys who did the shit work fulfilling the age-old full circle narrative and finally getting their damn due. Dennis Rodman and Tex Winter - along each with before-my-time Bull Artis Gilmore - were each elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame.

This announcement is fine enough, I suppose, though I'm not sure if it leaves me as warm as it probably should. The greatest rebounder to ever live and the greatest offensive coordinator the NBA has ever seen should both be in the some sort of Hall of Fame - don't listen to Hollinger; I'm just not totally sure what this one stands for. Canton has busts and, in Cooperstown, you take a hat with you. But the Basketball Hall of Fame? The Washington Generals could have been among the first class and I wouldn't be surprised.

Whatever: Rodman and Winter are gems, even if they occupy two completely separate solar systems. Rodman was uncut emotion and instinct; a pro wrestling heel personified with enough determination to at times make you forget there was ever even a side-show in the first place. Tex Winter worked in the shadows: the smartest guy in the room who wouldn't mind if he was the only one that knew it. This quote from John Paxson on Winter connected hard:

"I've always regarded Tex more as teacher than coach and believe that's
why he had the respect of so many players," said John Paxson, the Bulls'
executive vice president of basketball operations. "He really did
approach the practice court as if it were a classroom. Tex was
meticulous in having us pay attention to the small details and would
drill them religiously. I can honestly say I learned more basketball
being around Tex than at any other time in my life."

With Dennis, there's so much. Even though he waged those mental wars against Malone when I was in middle school, the memories really haven't gone anywhere. I even remember being initially scared straight when a stunt-based Fox reality show went awry years later and The Worm found himself slammed against a cliff. It's Rodman, man: everything he did was iconic. There will never be another Mike, it goes without saying no matter how many times people try to say it. But even if being weird isn't copyrighted, I'd argue that Rodman's personal brand of bizarre could never be replicated if only because it's so rooted in "90's".

Two very unique guys, and both very worthy of the honor. Is it wrong to wonder where MJ would be without everyone?

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Cardinal Weekend Recaptag:www.cardinal70.com,2011://22.202682011-04-04T19:31:11Z2011-04-04T19:18:05ZCardinal70
I know, dedicated reader(s), that you are waiting with breathless abandon to know how the well-hyped UCB weekend went. It was an amazing and wonderful time and I'm going to have to get my pictures in order before I can tell that story, so it may be later in the week before that happens. Until then, head over to the official site and you can read some of the other bloggers who were there. I was extremely excited to see them all and look forward to doing it again.

Until then, though, the blogging life goes on, and I'm going to talk about two games that I didn't see--one because I was on the road, the other because I was at the game and running my mouth with bloggers and others. That's OK, though. You won't be able to tell any differences between this weekend and any other recap.

Hero: Albert Pujols. I'm going with the big guy because of numerous factors, including having two hits, but how nice was it that he hit a home run on the 10th anniversary of his first game? Been an amazing decade.

If you were going to give a runner-up in that one, you'd probably go with Allen Craig. That early two-run single seemed to get the Cardinals on their way, but they just weren't able to keep that lead.

Goat: Jake Westbrook. All spring we worried about Jaime Garcia, but Westbrook wasn't that strong either. I wonder how much the lessened defense is really going to affect him, since he's such a ground ball pitcher. Does that get into his head, making him try to aim his pitches so they are more likely hit in the right place? I don't know. Whatever the face, five walks in less than five innings is a problem, especially when they all seem to score.

I wasn't completely sold on walking Brad Hawpe with two on in the big fifth. Sure, he's a stronger bat, but you are loading them up for Ryan Ludwick, who is no slouch. Besides the fact that Hawpe hadn't hit yet and Ludwick was having himself a nice series. Seemed like a lot of Tony La Russa's moves backfired on him on Saturday.

Speaking of backfiring, Jason Motte had a major stumble as well, being unable to not only keep his inherited runners form scoring, he allowed runs of his own. His biggest sin, though, would be walking the pitcher with the bases loaded. You just can't do that, especially when you throw like Motte does. Put it over the heart of the plate at the very least.

Hero: Jaime Garcia. If you are looking for overall performance, which I usually do, Garcia is a nobrainer. A complete game shutout, especially after his spring? I know his family was in town, which had to make it more special. Plus, he was obviously trying to show his appreciation to the Pitchers Hit Eighth guys that were in the house for their Honkin' for Jaime campaign last year. Between that outing and the fact that La Russa did hit Garcia eighth yesterday, I'm starting to think those guys have some real pull.

If you like your heroic moments more concisee, though, Daniel Descalso gave you that. The guys in the suite had just been commenting on how low Garcia's pitch count was and wondering if he could go the distance when he wound up loading the bases in the sixth. However, Descalso turned a nifty unassisted double play on a Ryan Ludwick liner and got Garcia out of the only real jam he was in all day.

Goat: Albert Pujols. Another rough day for the big guy. 0-4 with another double play and a ball that would have been two had there not already been two outs. You can't jump to any conclusions, though if AP doesn't have a good series starting tonight against his usual whipping boys in Pirate black and gold, you might wonder if he's starting to press.

There are still a number of issues with the defense. Ryan Theriot made his second error on Saturday and there were plays on Sunday that looked like they should be made, including another dropped ball on a steal attempt. I know there was a lot of talk in the offseason about this, but it really isn't looking like it was overblown as of yet. Good news, Theriot got another hit and now is likely hitting more than John Mozeliak's daughter's weight. (UCB Weekend joke, I'll explain later.)

Interesting discussion with owner Bill DeWitt over at the Post-Dispatch. Can you believe it's been 15 years since this ownership group took over? We were talking to Ron Watermon, director of media relations, and he said he was looking at the GameDay magazines recently from that time period, noticing articles about interleague play being a possibility and that the Cards had just put up a website where you could print off a form to mail in for tickets. So much has changed in that time period! This ownership group, by and large, has been very good for the organization.

Anyway, I found it fairly intriguing that, for a bench guy or a "win-now" type of player there's minimal flexibility, maybe a few million. Yet, if they could get a franchise player, a guy like Matt Holliday was, they could possibly go more. Which either means that if they got this franchise guy, it's likely they've given up on Pujols or that they expect the additional revenues from a guy like that would offset the added increase in payroll. I don't think it matters--not many of those guys out there and I can't think of any that would fit the Cardinals' immediate needs--but something to chew on.

Cards face off against the Pirates in a series that they need to come out and play well in to help remove some of those lingering thoughts of 2010 and not playing well against bad teams and bad pitchers.

Kyle Lohse goes for the Redbirds. After his stellar spring, Lohse gets his first test against a team that you might not expect to pose a problem. Then you look at the numbers.....

Granted, a lot of those results were probably generated in the last 2-3 years, when Lohse has been anything but good. If he's actually taken a step back to his 2008 form, he may be able to put some of those numbers to rest. It's something to watch out for, especially since the young guns there just have roped him.

Charlie Morton goes for the Pirates. Here's what he's done against the guys in red:

Cards have beaten him around the park as well, with Lance Berkman really looking forward to the game tonight. Only Descalso has had much trouble with him and he'll not be starting tonight, as David Freese returns to the lineup. Should be a matchup with lots of things to watch for. Looking forward to the first night game of the season!

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MNDY RNDP: Recappin' a Choice Sports Weekend In Chicagotag:www.tremendousupsidepotential.com,2011://15.202672011-04-04T04:44:11Z2011-04-04T06:12:36ZThe Bulls get the lede.The Bulls played three games in four days between Wednesday and Saturday, all of them without Joakim Noah, who's nursing a bum ankle. No matter. The Bulls won 'em all: holding Kevin Love to a non-double-double...Ricky O'Donnellhttp://www.tremendousupsidepotential.com

The Bulls played three games in four days between Wednesday and Saturday, all of them without Joakim Noah, who's nursing a bum ankle. No matter. The Bulls won 'em all: holding Kevin Love to a non-double-double in a very comfortable win over the T-Wolves, getting a too-close-for-comfort victory over Detroit on Dennis Rodman Night, and holdin' off the Raptors thanks to a monster D. Rose game on Saturday. The last two were of the grind-it-out variety they've aced for so much of this year. Three lottery-bound teams, yeah, but that No. 1 seed matters, and now the Bulls are in very good shape.

With six games left, they have a 2.5 game lead over Miami and a three game lead over Boston. And they're getting better and can still get better. I haven't thought about the Bears for one second since they last played. Much like time, Derrick Rose heals all wounds. I think we're gonna be in for a seriously wild ride very soon.

* * *

Opener: Doing the 9-5 thing every day now is definitely a good thing, but one of the greatest perks of nofunemployment was the ability to watch sports during the day. And I would have really, really liked to watch Friday's day-time season opener against the Indians -- especially after I saw that onslaught of runs. Hey, at least I had the four-buzzer-beater first day of the NCAA Tournament (Go Butler, I guess).

But, holy shit, how about that White Sox opener? Adam Dunn launched a two-run dinger in the third inning to kick-off a 12-run offensive explosion during the third and fourth innings. It was enough to give the Sox a two touchdown lead at one point. Totally awesome, even if the pen did give a lot of it back during the final four innings.

Doing the damage: Beckham -- 3-for-4 with a double and three runs. Quentin -- 3-for-4 with a homer and 5 RBI's. Dunn -- 2-for-4 with a homer and 4 RBI.

Game 2: The Sox jumped out to a 5-0 lead midway through the second inning, and rode a quality effort by Edwin Jackson (No. 2 starter! Weird!) and two of the cool fire-hurler bullpen bros the rest of the way to an 8-3 win. Jackson struck out seven in six innings, and gave up only a pair of earned runs in the second. Q! and Beckham mashed again: two hits, two RBI, and one run scored each.

CLEVELAND -- With Motley Crue's "Dr. Feelgood" thumping from the stereo, Omar Vizquel squeezed into a pair of tight leather pants, prompting Paul Konerko to ask Chicago's shortstop if he stole them from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Take it easy, dad.

Game 3: I was banking in threes and throwing sweet behind-the-back passes in a streetball game during the first T-Shirt Weather Sunday of the spring, and that was absolutely the correct decision. Will Ohman and Phil Humber-- members of the shitty soft-tossin' portion of the bullpen (also starring Tony Pena!) -- gave up a combined five earned runs after a pretty solid John Danks effort, and the Sox lost the series finale 7-1. So maybe we can't actually pencil in the offense for 10 runs a game? Kind of lame.

* * *
I haven't talked about this as much as I should have been -- blame the
awesome, awesome Bulls -- but just so we're all on the same page here:
expectations this season are firmly set as Division Champs Or Bust. Be
it 90 wins, 95 wins, whatever. It's a team that won 87 last season, and
added a new best hitter. Edwin Jackson for a full season should help
too, and at least the back-end of the bullpen looks like it could be
flame-throwingly dominant -- via "Easy Heat", Chris Sale, and Santos.

I think they should be very good. Yes, there appears
to be three teams obviously better. Not to get too Championship Delusional already, but it's not like the Giants were
"the best team in baseball" at any point before mid-October a season ago. Hell, they
wouldn't even have made the playoffs if not for a major Rockies choke-job.

Just be good, win games, and win more often than the Twins. Punto and Co. need to be put to bed.

-- CSN Chicago's Chuck Garfien tweeted this picture of Ozzie modeling this bad, bad, no good t-shirt from the Wrigley faithful:

Probably the highlight of the sports weekend, all things considered.

-- Jake Peavy is scheduled to make his first of two minor league
starts on Friday for the Double-A Barons. My expectations are set
dirt-low. Hey, nowhere to go up!